The Disaster Appropriations Bill was approved by Congress and signed by the President; see what it offers for agriculture.

Florida and the Southeast have seen a string of natural disasters in the past few years, and the agriculture industry has been hit hard in many areas. The Disaster Appropriations Bill promised aid to farmers, and it was finally approved by Congress and signed into law by the President in early June. A Farm Progress article outlined the details of the bill for agriculture; see them below.

What’s Ag-Related in the Disaster Appropriations Bill

The Farm Progress article listed the following details of the bill for ag:

  • “Agricultural Programs — $3.005 billion. Payments for crop and livestock losses due to hurricanes, typhoons, volcanic activities, tornados, floods, snowstorms, or wildfires during 2018 and 2019.
  • Emergency Forest Restoration Program — $480 million. Assistance to owners of private forests to restore disaster-damaged forests.
  • Watershed and Flood Prevention Operations — $435 million. Financial and technical assistance to states and local sponsors to protect and restore watersheds.
  • Emergency Conservation Program — $558 million. Provides emergency funding and technical assistance to farmers and ranchers to rehabilitate farmland damaged by natural disasters.
  • Rural Community Facilities Program — $150 million. Grants for facilities to provide health care, education, public safety, and public services to rural communities.
  • Provides trade mitigation assistance through the Market Facilitation Program to producers who derive at least 75 percent of their adjusted gross income from farming, ranching, or forestry related activities.”

The next step is for the USDA to enact the program to distribute the funding.

Griffin Fertilizer is committed to helping both growers and ranchers make sound agronomic and economic decisions in order to maximize the health of their grove and pasture. As a full-service custom dry & liquid fertilizer blender and crop protection product distributor, we will continue our mission to further advance Florida agriculture. For questions or concerns about your farm or pasture, contact us and one of our team will be in touch.